It is March.

For all the college basketball fans out there, it is the most coveted time of the year — March Madness. It is time to break out those brackets and start filling them out. 

Midwestern State men’s basketball is once again headed to the Lone Star Conference tournament in hopes of making it to the NCAA National Championship. 

Head coach Justin Leslie says the main goal of any college basketball team is to make the tournament and ultimately win it.

“We have put ourselves in a position for an NCAA tournament bid. Which the goal of college basketball players and teams is to make the tournament, and we have done that this year,” Leslie said.

Heading into the LSC tournament, the Mustangs are sitting at the No. 3 seed and will face off against the West Texas A&M Buffaloes, the No.6 seed. The first round of the tournament will tip off at noon, in Frisco. 

The Mustangs have had an outstanding season. The team is No. 25 in the NABC NCAA Division II rankings. After finishing the regular season with an overall record of 22-6 and a conference record of 17-5, the Mustangs are looking to continue their season and make a run for the National Championship.

At the helm of the team is coach Leslie, who is in his sixth season as the head coach at MSU. Since beginning his career at Midwestern, this season is the highest any of his teams have ranked in the LSC.

Leslie spoke on how important it was for the team to put in the work in the regular season, to have a chance in the postseason.

“The whole point of the regular season is to first get yourself into the postseason, and that can happen a lot of ways. Obviously you want to do it in a way that it puts you in a spot to play meaningful games,” Leslie said. “For us, 22-6, third overall in the Lone Star, second in the west division, it’s been a fantastic season for us, to date.”

Looking back on the regular season, MSU dominated defensively. Leslie said it is one of the main reasons why the team is ranked so high in the division at the moment. 

“We are elite defensively. We are a top ten national defense team, leaning on that and trusting that we can go out and guard anybody, that’s something that we have really grown into as the season has gone along,” Leslie said. “Defense puts you in a position for success.”

Fifth year senior Pierre Sanders shares similar thoughts on the quality defense the team has performed throughout the season. Both Leslie and Sanders believe their defense will be the team’s biggest strength heading into the postseason.

“I 100% believe and I know for a fact our team has bought into it and they believe it as well. That’s part of the reason we’ve won so many games, because every player on our roster knows that our defense is our biggest strength. So we lean into it and allow that to carry us in games,” Sanders said.

While defense may be where the Mustangs excel, Sanders said an aspect of the game the team has struggled with is remembering the basics and not getting too caught up in the game.

“I would say our biggest challenge would be continuing to focus on the basics, not necessarily focus on the basics, but continue to try to be the best at the basics, even when it may quote unquote boring… but as we know you gotta be better at the basics to be a great individual and then be a great team,” Sanders said.

As the team captain and one of the veteran players Sanders has had to step up and help hold the team accountable 

“I’ve had to become more of a vocal leader, and not just lead by example…But then I had to enter into the leadership role and basically be a coach on the court and be that person that everybody comes to, if they don’t want to go to coach or anything like that,” Sanders said. “Over the years, I’ve just turned into that leader of the team that I feel like my team can depend on me for anything on and off the court.”

For Sanders this season means something different for him than it does for the rest of the team. After dedicating five years to the Mustangs program, Sanders is competing in his last season of college basketball.

“It [this season] means everything, just because it is my last year playing college basketball. It just means everything, you always want to end, and do everything in your power to end your career on a high note and have a great season,” Sanders said. “So this season has meant everything, I have been trying to put everything I can into this season, but also just for the culture of our program as well.”

With all the excitement that the regular season has held, and the excitement to come with the postseason, Sanders says a big thing is remembering that they could be beat at any time.

“I would say because we know in the Lone Star Conference that you can be beat at any given night, so just going in with a certain amount of respect for our opponents, no matter who it is,” Sanders said.

As the team heads to Frisco to begin their battle in the LSC tournament and the postseason, Leslie would like to give props to the fans and the community for the support they have received this season and past seasons.

“First to thank them for the support we have had this year. I mean, I think we were second in the Lone Star in home attendance, which speaks to the support we have and we are grateful for that,” Leslie said. “Ultimately, just whatever they can do to continue supporting us whether it’s in person or in prayer, we’ll take all of it, and we are grateful for our fans.”